Archmaille Designs Blog

Well the goal was always to make it to St. Louis for the Pirate Fest… but of course going by way of bicycle wasn’t always the most amazing of choices. Although the goal was physical, the trip was never about the physical destination. Anyways, I made it about one hundred miles outside of Kansas City and started running into troubles. I got a flat tire, which was okay, I came prepared with a spare inner tube. After fixing that flat I headed out and went another 10 miles or so before camping out. When I woke up in the morning my OTHER tire was flat… only had one inner tube so I was now in need of using my patch kit… which made me camp out at that site for another day since the patches require several hours to dry. I was never able to patch it completely since they require a “clean and dry” place to be patched, well… if you haven’t noticed neither of those conditions exist with one another in nature. So I decided to head back. I made it about another 20 miles coming back before airing the tire up constantly pulled the valve stem away from the inner tube… so now it was walking time. I walked about another 20-30 miles before camping once again outside of a Jahovah’s Witness church (didn’t know it at the time I was out there in the dark). In the morning I was out of water and went over to the church to fill up hoping to just kind of get what I needed and sneak off. They started to show up for their Sunday morning meeting and asked me to come in… I used the excuse that I had to get going had a long way to travel, and one of them offered to take me home if I stayed for the meeting… to that I happily agreed! So that’s how the trip stands.

I actually returned as of Sunday… but you can go to my personal site at codysortore.com to read all about it and see a few pictures from the trip. It was an amazing time and I’m ready to get back to work for you guys!

Come hell or high water I’m determined to make the bike trip this week… latest is going to have to be Wednesday. Seeing as it will be the last week of Pirate Fest with the St. Louis Ren. Faire it works out nicely. I won’t actually be selling but should make it there. At least that is the plan as of now. We will see how things play out once I am actually on the road if I can make it to St. Louis in time

Hey guys,

I was planning on taking Archmaille Designs on the road just for a bike ride starting last Sunday. That didn’t happen because my cousin called me and said that if he had more time he would go with me. Needless to say I am giving him the more time since going alone seems somewhat fruitless. This also means that the trip will most likely be cut somewhat short, as I can’t expect him to want to ride the 560 miles to Chicago on impulse. Expect the trip to take place vastly along the Katy Trail here in Missouri sometime within the next month (and hopefully within the next couple of months) I plan on letting everyone know both here and on my personal site the exact date of launch.

Thanks for the continued support!
Cody Sortore

There is a much more detailed explanation for everything on my personal site, but essentially I will be going on a month or so long bike ride and taking Archmaille Designs with me! I will pack up all my supplies and what I have made up to bring with me to sell.

The plan for the ride is to head east towards the Katy Trail and follow that to St. Charles, then move on to St. Louis, and work my way across Illinois to Chicago. So if you are on route between here and there there is a possibility that I will see you along the way! I will be stopping in at coffee shops, or other similar places (such as Panera) whatever the towns I am in have to offer and will set up shop every night working on making pieces of jewelry and selling what I have to help pay for the trip.